Casey Neistat (filmmaker and YouTube vlogger) just did it again with this FUN new short film (Pokémon Go IN REAL LIFE)! “Riding” on the popularity of the latest (viral gaming app), Pokémon GO, with a little help from his YouTube collaborator Shonduras.

In the video, we see them execute a well-choreographed chase sequence through the streets of New York City (NYC) with Neistat dressed Ash Ketchum-like and Shonduras as Pikachu. We also get some viewer reactions and everyone (except two NYPD officers) seemed to have gotten a kick out of the whole thing.

Ash Ketchum and the lovable Pikachu

Since starting daily vlogging last April, Casey’s managed to create some pretty viral content including this YouTube video (SNOWBOARDING WITH THE NYPD). He’s also successfully managed to grow his subscribers from just over half a million, to fast approaching 4 million.

Pokémon GO logo and screenshot of the gaming app

I’m sure this new Pokémon GO video will be a hit and will only catapult Casey Neistat into the stratosphere of YouTube vlogging. If this isn’t a great example of guerrilla marketing, I don’t know what is! Pokémon GO will launch in Japan tomorrow (after a little snag) and it makes you wonder if this wasn’t all part of Casey’s plan to tap into that audience.

Keep up the great work, Casey! Enjoy the video. It definitely made my morning and left me laughing.

What do you do after your city has faced down one of the worse blizzards on record?! You take to the streets of course! Leave it to Casey Neistat to go snowboarding through the streets of New York City (NYC)!

If you’ve never heard of or seen Casey’s short films and daily vlogs, you can check out the blog I wrote on the super-talented storyteller. I’ll put the link below.

Who wouldn’t want to be out in that “winter wonderland”! I’ll tell you this much, this videos going to go VIRAL. Casey has found another winter…errr winner. Props to his partner in crime and famous YouTuber and Vlogger Jesse Wellens as well for this unforgettable collaboration.

There’s a new video-sharing app on the block and it’s called “Beme” conceptualised by Casey Neistat, New York-based Filmmaker and YouTube Vlogging star.

I wrote a blog about him a few months back [April], which you can read here by clicking this. Yes, literally click the word “this”. Casey’s managed to craft a total of 114 daily vlogs since then via YouTube, growing the amount of subscribers by a few hundred thousand. Pretty impressive. Somewhere around vlog #029 he introduced a segment called “Let’s Talk Business” that gave him an opportunity to both talk about and show us the new space for his ten top secret new company. Fast-forward to around vlog #105we’re finally introduced to Beme.

http://thisrepresents.com/images/pics/581_52_caseyneistat01_032.jpg

Today, Beme Inc. launched their “authentic” video-sharing app, Beme and after seeing what the app does, my first thought was, “Well that was a complete letdown.” Kiddin’! It’s actually quite clever and Casey Neistat may just have figured out how to get people back to having real conversations and real moments without your smartphone getting in the way. Beme, as Casey puts it “wants you to maintain eye contact” (Who does that these days?!) and enjoy whatever you’re doing without looking through your smartphone’s lens.

Anyway, to get back to my story. They’ve used the “proximity sensor” on the iPhone as a record button. Have no fear, your Android device ought to have it as well (I think). So now you can pretty much shoot a video clip [only four seconds long] or take a selfie just by placing your phone screen against your person or a wall. Or at least that’s how he sells it and you can watch the video below.

Someone asked me, “Why not just use ‘Snapchat’ and not look at the phone?” It’s a very good question and I see where they were going with that and I’d agree on some levels. But I think with trendy apps like Snapchat and Instagram for instance, there’s still a certain level of self-consciousness involved. One where our and relatives friends only present the “best versions” of themselves to the public. It’s like taking a selfie, but you only select maybe the one that to you looked the best after the 20th photograph.

http://www.theinquirer.net/IMG/261/280261/snapchat-logo-app-store.png

On the flip-side though, I’d have been more interested in seeing the global reaction to the app if the beta testers weren’t predominantly fans, friends, and family of Casey. The reviews are always going to be skewed to be more positive than negative ones. I’d have rather seen random beta testers who were prepared to tell it like it really is. I will say this; Beme has been very strategic with the app release using Casey’s ever-growing channel as a platform to advertise, as well as his newfound celebrity to hold meetups with fans turned potential users. I have to give them that from a marketing standpoint. There’s however, not enough marketing gimmicks in the world to escape the obvious comparisons that will come back to “haunt” them, i.e. Snapchat.

But the other reality too is that you sometimes start on a journey of developing an idea and out of nowhere comes competition. You’re millions of dollars in and all your investors are waiting for the product release. All you can do is hope for a successful release. In this instance though, seeing Snapchat was already in existence, I think there’s a shot it could have a similar success like Twitter and Vine.

That’s what competition is all about. Constantly aiming to build a better mousetrap than what’s out there. I could see why Casey feels there’s a space for Beme in the app marketplace. After all, there’s always room for one more. I’m sure Casey and his team are all “bemeing” with pride.

So far it’s only available to iOS users, so if you have an Android then you’re going to have to wait. No word yet if it’ll be made available in the Google Play store, but here’s to hoping. If you’re interested and you have an iPhone, you can download the first version of the app here http://apple.co/1OjdMFR

Updated: December 05, 2016Casey recently sold Beme Inc. to CNN for $25 million. The app will be shutdown in all app stores.

Like many of you, I spend parts of my days watching videos on YouTube. It never gets boring! There’s always something new.

I’m not really familiar with a lot of video bloggers, but the ones I do know tend to just sit in front of a camera and record themselves talking. That’s fine, if you’re into that sort of thing. I, however, appreciate people who are great and genuine storytellers and one such storyteller is Casey Neistat.

He’s a young filmmaker whose YouTube channel I’ve been following for a few years now since I first stumbled on this video entitled “Make It Count” posted April 9th 2012. Nike basically hands him some money to make them a movie about what it means to make it count, Casey opts for making his own movie on what it means. Personally I preferred his approach which was a trip across the globe capturing the moments as they went along until the film budget was spent.

Flash-forward to 2015, Casey makes a rather BIG ANNOUNCEMENT and as a fan, I had no idea what that could be. When I watched the video it was the greatest news I could ever imagined! His new plan outside of making films for his YouTube channels was going to be one vlog every day for a year or until he got bored. It was his big pivot of sorts for turning 34 and wanting to keep pushing his passion and his craft.

Film-making can’t be easy with all the footage that you have to capture then the editing, colour correction and adding of sound and music in the post-production phase. By the way, the music featured in every vlog Neistat puts out is always top-notch! I respect the quality that goes into the quantity of films he’s produced to date. It’s impressive and really motivates me to work on my own craft and try to explore various medium of expression.

Below is his latest vlog, which came as a bonus today and it’s a musing from the Farrelly Brothers known for movies like “Dumb and Dumber”. Casey’s film is 27 seconds long, but manages to show his talent and creativity as a filmmaker. Not sure what typeface he uses (outside of being a sans-serif), but it works especially, in upper-case letters. It makes me want to pick up my smartphone and start creating some films too. I doubt they’d be as good, but like everything else you just have to start somewhere.